--- title: Serena Williams Talks Heading to Wimbledon Final vs. Kerber description: Serena Williams is headed to her 30th grand slam singles final, just ten months after giving birth to daughter Olympia. canonical: https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-12T18:05:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:49.598Z og:title: Serena Williams Talks Challenges Ahead of Wimbledon Final og:description: 'It's not inevitable for me to be playing like this' og:url: https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f3864b85b2a7059/6989354222fb85aa22e26244/serena-williams-wimbledon-final-kerber-after-giving-birth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Serena Williams Talks Challenges Ahead of Wimbledon Final twitter:description: 'It's not inevitable for me to be playing like this' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f3864b85b2a7059/6989354222fb85aa22e26244/serena-williams-wimbledon-final-kerber-after-giving-birth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Serena Williams on Heading to the Wimbledon Final: 'It's Not Inevitable For Me to Be Playing Like This' > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 12, 2018 6:05 PM UTC  US player Serena Williams returns against Germany's Julia Goerges during their women's singles semi-final match on the tenth day of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 12, 2018\. - Williams won the match 6-2, 6-4\. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images) US player Serena Williams returns against Germany's Julia Goerges during their women's singles semi-final match on the tenth day of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 12, 2018\. - Williams won the match 6-2, 6-4\. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images) OLI SCARFF—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 12, 2018 6:05 PM UTC [Serena Williams](http://time.com/4925648/serena-williams-tennis/) is headed to her 30th Grand Slam singles final after beating Julia Goerges in the [2018 Wimbledon semi-final](http://time.com/5335848/federer-exits-wimbledon/) on Thursday. Her win sets the stage for a redux of the 2016 Wimbledon final in which she defeated Angelique Kerber, who will also be her 2018 opponent. It was an especially sweet victory for Williams, a 23-time champion, who survived harrowing complications when she [gave birth to daughter Alexis Olympia](http://time.com/5096845/serena-williams-doesnt-want-daughter-to-play-tennis/) just 10 months ago. Following the baby’s delivery, Williams had a number of [health issues](http://fortune.com/2018/01/12/serena-williams-birth-story-black-women/), including a pulmonary embolism and a hematoma, which led to her having multiple surgeries. Williams isn’t taking her time at Wimbledon for granted, noting in a [post-game interview](https://twitter.com/DavidLawTennis/status/1017427119599771648) that she “didn’t expect to do this well in my fourth tournament back.” “It’s not inevitable for me to be playing like this,” Williams said. “I had multiple surgeries and nearly didn’t make it when I gave birth. I’m enjoying every moment.” Williams will face off with Kerber on Saturday; if she is victorious, she’ll tie Margaret Court’s all-time record for grand slam singles titles. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/"},"headline":"Serena Williams on Heading to the Wimbledon Final: 'It's Not Inevitable For Me to Be Playing Like This'","datePublished":"2018-07-12T18:05:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:49.598Z","description":"The 23-time champ gave birth just 10 months ago","url":"https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f3864b85b2a7059/6989354222fb85aa22e26244/serena-williams-wimbledon-final-kerber-after-giving-birth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f3864b85b2a7059/6989354222fb85aa22e26244/serena-williams-wimbledon-final-kerber-after-giving-birth.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON","caption":"TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON","creditText":"OLI SCARFF—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5337263/serena-williams-wimbledon-final/","name":"Serena Williams on Heading to the Wimbledon Final: 'It's Not Inevitable For Me to Be Playing Like This'"}}]}] ```